The Cantonese dialect (廣州話, 廣府話, or 粵語 and less accurately 廣東語) is one of the major languages of the Chinese language group. It is the speech of the Cantonese people in parts of the Guangdong and Guangxi provinces, as well as Hainan island, Hong Kong, Macau, and overseas Chinese of Cantonese origin. The accent as spoken in Guangzhou is considered the standard. Cantonese includes other dialects such as Taishan dialect or Waitau that are mutually unintelligible. Cantonese is spoken by about 45 million people (4.5% of Han population).

Cantonese is the de facto standard Chinese in Hong Kong SAR and in overseas Chinese communities.